The present invention relates to a switch, particularly a switch that can be installed into the instrument panel of a vehicle, and to a method for manufacturing such a switch. The switch is provided with a switching member that is slidably guided in a casing, has switching contacts, and carries an actuating element for actuating the switch. The switch is further provided with a printed board that is positioned at the switching member and has a printed circuit that is connected with the switching contacts as well as corresponding electronic components. Furthermore, the switch is provided with a light source, mounted on the switching member and connected to the printed board, for lighting the actuating element from behind.
In a known switch of the aforementioned kind (DE-OS 42 06 335) the printed board is U-shaped and carries respectively a fixture for a light source at each end of its legs. The assembly of the switching member, designed as a slide, with its U-shaped printed board at the ends of which the fixtures for the light sources to be inserted are provided, is relatively complicated. Furthermore, the printed board is subjected to stress because of this design and also because of the freely projecting light source fixtures, whereby the functioning of the printed circuits provided on the printed board are possibly affected unfavorably.
Another switch of the aforementioned kind is known from DE-AS 26 34 697. In this known switch a fixture for a lamp is mounted on the bottom of the casing; together with a protective hood, the lamp projects through the switching member designed as a slide and also through the printed board that is mounted on the switching member. This results, in addition to a complicated structure of the printed board, in a larger surface area and thus in a larger design of the entire switch. It is relatively complicated to mount the known switch since the lamp with its fixture has to be inserted into the casing and electrically connected from below. Then, the printed board provided with a hole for the lamp must to be inserted from above and connected to the contact pins projecting from the slide.
Apart from a high integration for reducing wires, a further requirement for modern switches, particularly those that are to be installed into an instrument panel of a vehicle, is that they should be designed to be as compact as possible and, at the same time, should allow for cost-efficient mounting.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to improve a switch, as well as a method for its manufacturing, such that the aforementioned requirements are met in an advantageous way.